Property tax bills in name of flat owners now not society Latest News

Flat owners in the city would have to pay property tax from the next year onwards directly to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Under the current system the property tax is levied collectively for a building.

The civic body has already issued notices to 15,000 of the 95,000 housing societies and commercial establishments in Mumbai, seeking details of the properties of their individual members. In its notice, the BMC has asked for specifications about the flats, shops and commercial premises to levy the taxes on individual owners.

BMC states that it will become easier for property property owners to pay tax directly to the BMC, and help the civic body to tap on more structures that are not in BMC records.

According to the officials, the civic body has initiated issuing notices last week in all its 24 administrative wards.

Additional municipal commissioner Praveen Darade stated that the notices to the 95,000 societies have been issued in a month’s time and they plan to complete the entire documentation process of each flat/commercial unit in this year itself. This will thereby help property tax collection which will help in improving MBCs revenue.

In 2018-19, the BMC collected around ?5,040 crore as property tax from the city and it is aiming to increase the collection by streamlining the process.

The system of collecting property tax on the basis of individual flats and property is already being followed in Pune.

Once the notices are issued, the societies will be given seven days to submit documents containing the details of the individual flats under them. These documents would include monthly maintenance, telephone and electricity bills of individual flat owners to prove their ownership.

If the societies fail to provide the details within seven days, the BMC said it will complete the process of issuing flat-wise property tax as per its records.

An official from the assessment and collection department of BMC, said, “We will have a dedicated quick response (QR) code which property owners can scan and pay their property tax on mobile applications such as Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) .” - Hindustan Times

There are around 4 lakh buildings in the city that are registered with the BMC. However, according to the BMC, it will issue notices to only 95,000 societies as the others may not come under the criteria for flat-wise property tax.

The BMC official added, “The remaining societies could have fewer number of members or are under the pagdi system (a system in which the landlord is the owner of the property, but possession of the property lies with tenants). For such buildings, the BMC will continue issuing notices for the whole structure.” - Hindustan Times